Cargo Cult - Who is John Frum? He is known to us by many names, this Visitor from Elsewhere, dispenser of endless abundance and wielder of mysterious technologies: John Frum, Quetzalcoatl, Osiris, "Bob." His cargo is splendid, his generosity boundless, his motives beyond our understanding. But across the ages and around the world, the stories all agree: one day he will return, bearing great gifts. Our theme this year asks three related questions; who is John Frum, where is he really from, and where, on spaceship Earth, are we all going?

Joseph Campbell wrote:We are the children of this beautiful planet that we have lately seen photographed from the moon. We are not delivered into it by some god, but have come forth from it. We are its eyes and mind, its seeing and its thinking. And the earth, together, with its sun, this light around which it flies like a moth, came forth, we are told, from a nebula; and that nebula, in turn, from space. So that we are the mind, ultimately, of space. . . .

No wonder, then, if its laws and ours are the same! Likewise our depths are the depths of space, whence all those gods sprang that men’s minds in the past projected onto animals and plants, onto hills and streams, the planets in their courses, and their own peculiar social observances.

From time to time extremely bizarre and weird cults are born. One baffling insertion in the list of bizarre cults is the Sect of the Gadget Hackwrench. The members of this cult believe in a Disney cartoon that is Gadget Hackwrenchfrom the famous the “Disney's Rescue Ranger TV show”,as being a divine being. She is considered to be the most untouched and perfect sibling of the great god on Earth. The members of the Gadget Hackwrench cult fervently believe that she is some sort of a goddess. They consider her to be firm, adorable and sanguine and that her degree of technical knowledge is practically unachievable for any existing mortal being. These are just a few of the testimonies of the sect followers.

What is completely bizarre is the fact that this hero or goddess that they believe in is a Disney cartoon. The members of the cult burn candles around a poster size image of the cartoon and chant to her to grant their wishes.

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Oh yeah, this year I was totally twerping out at the fence. ~Lonesombri

1) Begin by creating your own reality. You do this by keeping your members away from outsiders. An isolated farm in the middle of Idaho is good but if such a retreat isn't available, impose a form of self-censorship. If it's not of the cult, it's of the devil.
2) Next set the leader and his/her inner circle up as the only link to paradise...only they hold the keys to the kingdom.
3) Remember to make increasing demands. Start small but keep it going and eventually you'll have your followers standing in line to turn over all their worldly possessions.
4) Keep turning out stories about the greatness of the leader. The more unbelievable the more they will be believed. Your members have already been conditioned from the time they were children to accept things like coming back from the dead and walking on water.
5) Remember to use your converts to bring in still more converts. This has the double advantage of picking up new disciples and (even if that doesn't always work) the mere act of proselytizing will further cement the commitment of those already in the fold.
6) Keep everybody busy. This doesn't allow time for potentially critical thought. Let the minds of the masses wander and who knows, they might put two and two together. For this reason, long sermons - the longer the better - and interminable work shifts are essential. And when you aren't haranguing them and they aren't being kept busy...make sure they're at least singing.
7) And finally, keep your flock fixated on the carrot. The payoff is just around the corner and only they will be the ones paid off. The clouds will part and they will be raptured up and then, boy-oh-boy, won't all those non-believers be sorry.